Columbia South Carolina wears a lot of hats for a small southern city.
It is the state capital, a growing community with many beautification
and expansion projects in the works, a college town and a typically
southern repository of Old South History.
Of particular historical note is the city’s Civil War history.
General Sherman burnt the city on his infamous march to the sea. Historical
markers of the war can be found all over the city. The impressive Statehouse
even has bronze stars on its west side to mark the places where it was
struck by Union cannonballs.
The Confederate Relic Room & Museum offers reference resources for
anyone looking for South Carolinian ancestors who fought for the south,
as well as hosting exhibits tracing the states military history from
colonial times until the Gulf Wars. The excellent South Carolina State
Museum is broader in its scope. This 1rst class facility has 3 floors
of exhibits about natural, cultural, technological and scientific history
(don’t miss the 43-ft. replica of a prehistoric shark). The Columbia
Museum of art features rotating exhibits of fine art.
Columbia is a college town. The University of South Carolina brings
Gamecock’s football (and other sports) to the area, but it also
brings a full season of theater to the area at the Long Street Theater
on campus. Columbia College, not to be outdone, is home to The Power
Company, and thrilling modern interpretative dance troupe. Children
of all ages will enjoy the Columbia Marionette Theater’s ambitious
productions, like Frankenstein and Alice in Wonderland.
All you Woodrow Wilson fanatics out there
will be pleased to know that you can tour his boyhood home in Columbia
South Carolina. Nearby Lake Murray contains 78 square miles
of water, 500 miles of shoreline and an endless amount of outdoor adventures
while camping, fishing, swimming and boating.
